Tennis stars reject Grand Slam tournaments’ offerThe GuardianThe tennis pay row has escalated further with the world’s top 10 male and female players rejecting an offer from the Grand Slams to set up a player council that would give them a greater say in the running of the major championships. People watch the Australian Open men’s singles final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz in Melbourne on Sunday. At Wimbledon last year, the total prize pot of ￡50 million (US$68.4 million) was 12.3 percent of the tournament’s ￡406.5 million revenue. Three of the Grand Slams, minus the Australian Open, wrote to the players in December last year offering a meeting on setting up a Grand Slam player council, but ignored their demands on pay and welfare. In a further indication of the in-fighting, Tennis Australia is not involved in the dispute, as it has aligned with the Professional Tennis Players’ Association, which is suing the other three Grand Slam governing bodies in New York’s district court over alleged restrictive practices.

Source: Taipei Times February 03, 2026 16:32 UTC